No.1 for Interviews - Tana Ramsay
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She may be the wife of super chef Gordon Ramsay but, as Katie McKenna finds out on the release of her latest book Home Made, this domestic goddess is a star in her own right
If opposites really do attract, then Tana and Gordon Ramsay should be used as a case study to prove that clichés really are true. He’s a bit of a loudmouth, who is as well known for his sharp tongue and foul language as he is for his Michelin star cooking. She’s a quietly confident former Montessori teacher whose main priorities are family and home.
The 12 years since they married have seen Gordon’s meteoric rise to fame, and with it criticism that he is a touch on the chauvinistic side. On speaking to Tana about life in the Ramsay household, it becomes clear that more traditional roles are upheld – she’s at home on cooking and homework duty (oh and turning out the odd book every now and then) and he is out working all the hours God sends. And that’s the great thing about Tana’s new book, Home Made: it strikes a great balance between a recipe book and an insight into the life of a celebrity couple.
If you went by Gordon’s recent exploits at the BBC Good Food Show, you would be forgiven for thinking that being married to Gordon Ramsay would be hardwork. As he handed out £20 notes to audience members to go and buy her book, with his tongue firmly in his cheek, he declared that Home Made was “Sh*t”. But chatting with Tana it becomes clear that they have a lot of respect for each other: she has her domestic roles and he has his business.
Every relationship is different and on speaking to Tana it becomes clear that for these two, it works.
What was your thinking behind Home Made and was it important to you to divulge snippets of your personal life?
Absolutely because it gives the reader more of an overview of my memory of food from when I was growing up and the comfort it gave me to come home to a warm meal. I want to recreate that for my children but still have very simple and very easy to achieve recipes.
Do you struggle, as so many parents do, with getting your kids to eat healthily?
You always have the odd battle but I suppose for me, with four kids so close in age, I tend to turn a deaf ear to it because if one of them doesn’t like it, I’m not going to start cooking something else. I just try to get through meal times and make sure everyone is full. When you have one child you are kind of more likely to give in but when I had four so close together, it was just a case of getting on with it and if you don’t like it, well there’s nothing else.
Was having a big family always part of the plan for you and Gordon?
Yes, we are both one of four but after the twins we thought we would wait a bit but then we had a complete surprise and number four happened very quickly – I was four months pregnant before I realised. But now that the youngest is seven and the eldest is 10 I think it was by far the easiest way to go.
Do the kids help out with the cooking at
home?
They would like to do more than I let them but Monday to Friday is so manic and busy that I tend to just want to get on with doing the tea while they do their homework. At weekends it’s different and there is more time so they can help out more.
It’s so important for these skills to be passed down through the generations.
Absolutely. I don’t cook the elaborate meals that Gordon will cook; I cook home food and I’ve never been trained as a cook. I’m a domestic cook.
Do you and Gordon both help with the homework in the evening?
It’s me that’s home and that’s really what I like to do – having been a teacher it’s my department really. Gordon gets home after they have had bath time and done homework and all of that so that’s my job and I like doing it.
Do you think teaching is something you will go back to at some stage?
No not now. Different things have opened up and working from home is great because obviously Gordon is working long hours and I need to be on call if the children have problems at school or if they are poorly. It allows me to be flexible.
Can you tell me what a typical day is like for you?
I’m always up early – Jack has to leave for school at 7.20am. Breakfast is usually porridge or breakfast cereal followed by whole-wheat toast. Then everyone is taken to school and, depending what I’m working on or if I’m filming, then obviously I will get straight on with that. I try to fit as much as I can into their school day so that if I can be around, at the end of the day, I am. But obviously if I’m not, then plans have to be in action for things to carry on as normal. I don’t want to spend the whole day thinking about what they’re going to have for tea so I partially prepare that the day before. As soon as the kids get home at 4.30pm they have activities or homework and so the day’s pretty much packed time wise – there’s not really a lot of free time.
Both you and Gordon are both successful authors. Is there any good-natured competition between the two of you?
Of course there is – there’s nothing like a bit of competition!
Do you ask for his input when you are working on a book?
No, I’m much more likely to ask for my mum or my sister’s input or Gordon’s mum or sister. Either that or I will ask my friends – people who are in the position I am with young children. It keeps it that much more real and easier for other people to identify with.
You mention in your book that there is always a stream of people coming through your house such as film crews or journalists. How do you get away from it all and relax?
I go running. Gordon and I both run marathons
and so the times that I just need to get away and
clear my head, I just stick on my trainers and go for a run, either round the commons or down by the Thames.
Do you and Gordon find it easy to find time together?
Yes. Weekends are always strict family time and we either go down to the country or we might have one of our mums have the children for the weekend and disappear on our own. It’s very important to do that; to have time as a family and as a couple.
Do you find it hard to deal with Gordon being away filming a lot?
Yes but that tends to go in phases. It tends to be six or eight weeks once a year. People ask me how I manage and I always say that it’s not like he’s being sent away for six months. You think of these ladies whose husbands are going to Afghanistan for six months and they can’t contact them when they want – that’s tough. We have a two-week rule that if either of us is away for two weeks or more then the other one goes out to visit and if the kids are on holiday then they can go too. It’s really important to keep that.
You must meet a lot of celebrities. Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met?
I saw Helen Mirren on an airplane once and Gordon asked if I said, ‘Hello’ to her. I thought, ‘God no, I’m far too nervous to just go up and speak to her,’ because you know that they probably just want to be left on their own – they’re on a flight for goodness sake! The Queen was on and I’d been watching it on the plane. We landed at Heathrow and a few seats away she stood up and I thought, ‘I’d just been watching her in The Queen!’ It was quite funny. If Gordon had been there they probably would have said ‘Hello’ to each other.
Do you get nervous before going to red carpet events?
When I’m walking with Gordon up the red carpet and you’ve got all these photographers screaming at him to turn this way and that, that’s quite daunting. But I just get nervous that I’m wearing ridiculous high heels and I might trip over them! Or that my dress is tucked into my knickers! Can you imagine?
Finally, how will you be celebrating Christmas this year?
For the first time this year we will be going away for Christmas and New Year. We are going to the sunshine and I’m really looking forward to it. But we will have to back in time for Megan to study for her 11 plus in January – she’ll be getting nervous!
tana on…
HOME
Home has always been the most important place in my life – from my earliest childhood memories when home was the farm I lived in with my parents, brother and sister, right up to today when home is where Gordon, the kids and I retreat to from the chaos of our busy lives. Even the word ‘home’ conjures up so many emotions for me – happiness, love, security; it’s my haven from the outside world.
Children
I make a point of building down-time into our lives by keeping weekends free and holidays as relaxed as possible. Having this ‘home’ time allows the children to have freedom to play in their bedrooms, to play together, to use their own initiative and amuse themselves. By letting them do this I find that they come up with much more imaginative games than I could ever suggest.
Meeting Gordon
Just as now home is a place for us to talk with the children, so it was for me and Gordon before they arrived on the scene. When we first met he was working late every night and I was working all day and studying to be a Montessori teacher in the evenings, but even then we would have a cup of tea in the small hours when he got home so that we could spend time together (something we still do now).
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